Duke does NOT always get the easiest bracket.

Saguaro Cat

All-American
Apr 27, 2008
16,918
7,625
113
2017. Duke is a 2 seed. They are put in the same bracket as #1 overall seed and defending national champion Villanova. They are setup to play South Carolina in South Carolina.

2016. Duke is a 4 seed. They are not put in the North Carolina sub bracket. Would have had to go through both Oregon and Oklahoma in California.

2015. Duke is a 1 seed. They get a nice bracket.

2014. Duke is a 3 seed. Is the same bracket as UK, and the complaint is we always get the hardest bracket. Put in same bracket as Wichita State, Michigan, and Louisville and have to play them all in Indianapolis. In fear they poop the bed against Mercer right out of the gate.

2013. Duke is a 2 seed. They are put in the same bracket as #1 overall seed and eventual disgraced tournament winner Louisville. Plus Michigan State and would have had to beat both in Indianapolis.

2012. Duke is a 2 seed. They are put in the same bracket as prohibitive #1 overall seed and eventual national champion Kentucky. Who as we all know is always put in the hardest bracket. In fear, they poop the bed against Lehigh right out of the gate.

Do they get to play in North Carolina? Yes it if they earn it. Just like we get to play in Louisville or Nashville if we do.

I'm not trying to argue they get the hardest bracket. I just think it's unbecoming of fans of the greatest basketball program to constantly be whining about the imagined benefits of a lesser program.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Duke Blu and CB3UK

CB3UK

Hall of Famer
Apr 15, 2012
64,655
108,254
78
Losing must effect our fans more than one would think. Bizarre post , even if true when did we start defending the rat ? And yes they get favorable treatment , maybe a smooth troll attempt .
Because not all of us are irrational lunatics and occasionally like to see some levity and reasoned thought on the board. Apparently looking at things objectively is now "being a troll." This mob mentality resulting from that is precisely why this board is a cesspool. The OP is correct, objectively, and why would you even care if he is? His last sentence is precisely why I have chimed in; because I saw that and said "finally, someone else who gets it." We are Kentucky. Whining about other lesser programs makes us look like a bunch of petulant children. Especially when the whining, as evidenced, is entirely unfounded.
 

UKWildcats#8

All-American
Jun 25, 2011
30,327
9,338
0
2017. Duke is a 2 seed. They are put in the same bracket as #1 overall seed and defending national champion Villanova. They are setup to play South Carolina in South Carolina.

2016. Duke is a 4 seed. They are not put in the North Carolina sub bracket. Would have had to go through both Oregon and Oklahoma in California.

2015. Duke is a 1 seed. They get a nice bracket.

2014. Duke is a 3 seed. Is the same bracket as UK, and the complaint is we always get the hardest bracket. Put in same bracket as Wichita State, Michigan, and Louisville and have to play them all in Indianapolis. In fear they poop the bed against Mercer right out of the gate.

2013. Duke is a 2 seed. They are put in the same bracket as #1 overall seed and eventual disgraced tournament winner Louisville. Plus Michigan State and would have had to beat both in Indianapolis.

2012. Duke is a 2 seed. They are put in the same bracket as prohibitive #1 overall seed and eventual national champion Kentucky. Who as we all know is always put in the hardest bracket. In fear, they poop the bed against Lehigh right out of the gate.

Do they get to play in North Carolina? Yes it if they earn it. Just like we get to play in Louisville or Nashville if we do.

I'm not trying to argue they get the hardest bracket. I just think it's unbecoming of fans of the greatest basketball program to constantly be whining about the imagined benefits of a lesser program.

Good post. They did in 2010 and 2015 though. And won titles.
 

mjj_2K

All-American
Jul 11, 2010
12,592
7,271
113
It's mainly based on 2010 and 15. And the fact that Duke ALWAYS seems to get the benefit of the doubt in terms of where they're seeded. Name a year when Duke was seeded lower than people were predicting. It never, ever happens. UK's had it happen 3 times in 6 years.

Duke was a questionable 1 seed in both 10 and 15, and yet both times got put it what was CLEARLY the easiest region both times.

It's not as simple as "Duke always gets favoritism", but over the long haul, the favoritism is there.
 
Jul 4, 2007
6,433
11,915
113
It's mainly based on 2010 and 15. And the fact that Duke ALWAYS seems to get the benefit of the doubt in terms of where they're seeded. Name a year when Duke was seeded lower than people were predicting. It never, ever happens. UK's had it happen 3 times in 6 years.

Duke was a questionable 1 seed in both 10 and 15, and yet both times got put it what was CLEARLY the easiest region both times.

It's not as simple as "Duke always gets favoritism", but over the long haul, the favoritism is there.

Couldn't have said it better myself...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Crowell7

JStaff21

Heisman
Sep 8, 2012
12,735
58,188
0
Good post. They did in 2010 and 2015 though. And won titles.

2015 was pretty absurd. You had 4 juggernauts in Kentucky, Duke, Wisconsin and Arizona. 3 of them end up on one side of the bracket.

I realize we lost to Wisconsin and they beat them... but the fact we had an undefeated season and Duke (who didn’t win any conference title) was rewarded by playing no one until Wisconsin was BS.
 

Titpwhami2014

All-American
Feb 17, 2018
3,466
8,449
0
Doesn’t matter who gets seeded what this year. The difference between the best team and the 20th best team is as close as I’ve ever seen it. The usual handwringing and favoritism cries will still be present next Sunday....but it really won’t matter because the top seeds are so evenly matched this year.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CatFanInTheBathtub

kybassfan

Heisman
Jul 1, 2005
20,032
16,368
113
2017. Duke is a 2 seed. They are put in the same bracket as #1 overall seed and defending national champion Villanova. They are setup to play South Carolina in South Carolina.

2016. Duke is a 4 seed. They are not put in the North Carolina sub bracket. Would have had to go through both Oregon and Oklahoma in California.

2015. Duke is a 1 seed. They get a nice bracket.

2014. Duke is a 3 seed. Is the same bracket as UK, and the complaint is we always get the hardest bracket. Put in same bracket as Wichita State, Michigan, and Louisville and have to play them all in Indianapolis. In fear they poop the bed against Mercer right out of the gate.

2013. Duke is a 2 seed. They are put in the same bracket as #1 overall seed and eventual disgraced tournament winner Louisville. Plus Michigan State and would have had to beat both in Indianapolis.

2012. Duke is a 2 seed. They are put in the same bracket as prohibitive #1 overall seed and eventual national champion Kentucky. Who as we all know is always put in the hardest bracket. In fear, they poop the bed against Lehigh right out of the gate.

Do they get to play in North Carolina? Yes it if they earn it. Just like we get to play in Louisville or Nashville if we do.

I'm not trying to argue they get the hardest bracket. I just think it's unbecoming of fans of the greatest basketball program to constantly be whining about the imagined benefits of a lesser program.


So what you are really saying is that when Puke is in a really tough bracket, they poop the bed.

This explains it folks. The NCAA thinks its undignified when Ratface craps himself, so they put them in soft serve brackets.
 
May 27, 2007
31,946
25,090
113
It's mainly based on 2010 and 15. And the fact that Duke ALWAYS seems to get the benefit of the doubt in terms of where they're seeded. Name a year when Duke was seeded lower than people were predicting. It never, ever happens. UK's had it happen 3 times in 6 years.

Duke was a questionable 1 seed in both 10 and 15, and yet both times got put it what was CLEARLY the easiest region both times.

It's not as simple as "Duke always gets favoritism", but over the long haul, the favoritism is there.

I don't think that's a "Duke or UK" thing tho but rather an "ACC vs SEC" thing.

I believe our screwing of seeds comes from the perception of the SEC being weak. Sometimes that's true and sometimes not so much
 
  • Like
Reactions: WildMoon

UKWildcats#8

All-American
Jun 25, 2011
30,327
9,338
0
2015 was pretty absurd. You had 4 juggernauts in Kentucky, Duke, Wisconsin and Arizona. 3 of them end up on one side of the bracket.

I realize we lost to Wisconsin and they beat them... but the fact we had an undefeated season and Duke (who didn’t win any conference title) was rewarded by playing no one until Wisconsin was BS.

It sucked but made sense based on geography and resume. Making villanova the 4th one would have been more balanced but based on resumes they were clearly #2 behind uk heading into NCAA.
 

WildMoon

Heisman
Apr 7, 2009
78,693
11,120
0
So just listing makes the argument true?

Was Duke even a #2 seed last year, but still got 2 seed? Losing to south carolina at south carolina....isn't a big factor. They were 11 loss team. They got spanked by us (we played at home, but nonetheless). And lets not act like South Carolina is exactly far away from North Carolina....

Not to mention, they didn't do **** except 2015 and 2010..which alone makes the run great, but they lost to teams they should have won anyways...

and 2015 is just absurd. Beginning and at the end of the year there were 3 major powerhouses. UK, Duke, and Wisconsin. We had the best record, and should not even had to bother with Wisconsin in Final Four. It should have been UK versus Duke/Wisconsin for title.
 

wcc31

Heisman
Mar 18, 2002
27,017
88,746
98
2017. Duke is a 2 seed. They are put in the same bracket as #1 overall seed and defending national champion Villanova. They are setup to play South Carolina in South Carolina.

2016. Duke is a 4 seed. They are not put in the North Carolina sub bracket. Would have had to go through both Oregon and Oklahoma in California.

2015. Duke is a 1 seed. They get a nice bracket.

2014. Duke is a 3 seed. Is the same bracket as UK, and the complaint is we always get the hardest bracket. Put in same bracket as Wichita State, Michigan, and Louisville and have to play them all in Indianapolis. In fear they poop the bed against Mercer right out of the gate.

2013. Duke is a 2 seed. They are put in the same bracket as #1 overall seed and eventual disgraced tournament winner Louisville. Plus Michigan State and would have had to beat both in Indianapolis.

2012. Duke is a 2 seed. They are put in the same bracket as prohibitive #1 overall seed and eventual national champion Kentucky. Who as we all know is always put in the hardest bracket. In fear, they poop the bed against Lehigh right out of the gate.

Do they get to play in North Carolina? Yes it if they earn it. Just like we get to play in Louisville or Nashville if we do.

I'm not trying to argue they get the hardest bracket. I just think it's unbecoming of fans of the greatest basketball program to constantly be whining about the imagined benefits of a lesser program.

:joy: I love this Dookie hindsight that South Carolina was some beast lurking.

Piss off.
 

WildMoon

Heisman
Apr 7, 2009
78,693
11,120
0
OP, since you’ve enlightened us with your superior intellect this morning, maybe break down, while Duke does get the benefit of the doubt, why Kentucky, unless we are a clear cut number one (10, 12, 15), really never does.

BTW, i always see this. We weren't clear cut #1 in 2010. We were #2 overall.

Cousin and Wall were dynamic but we weren't very good defensively nor could we space the floor well. Also, our guard defense tend to have all or nothing approach, which created a lot of highlights but also straight line drive to the basket.
 

Kats23

All-American
Nov 21, 2007
8,683
5,914
63
Here’s several problems with your thoughts

2017-USCjr was a 7 seed. Has no fans. The NCAA had pulled all events from the state of North Carolina due to a bathroom law. They couldn’t put Duke in North Carolina. It’s truly laughable you think it was some kind of disadvantage.

2014- Wichita St was considered the weakest #1 seed. Louisville wasnt as good as their 13 team. Kentucky had 10 losses. You’re logic is flawed.

2013-State wasn’t a great team. UL was in the elite 8. Once you hit the elite 8, I don’t care who you are, you will play somebody good.

2012- while the UK-Duke Elite 8 matchup would of happened, they would of have to play a bunch of nobodies until UK. Again the NCAA loves that Duke-UK regional final matchup.

Your logic is flawed. You’re also using revisionist history and how things played out. On the day of Selection Sunday, Duke generally has the easiest path of the 1 and 2 seeds in the tournament and this year will be no different. Only really in 10 and 12 did UK get a pretty favorable path in the tourney and people have made arguments about 10 hat show they didn’t. Like I said, it’s not about who you play in the regional final and FF, it’s the 3 games before that. Duke has a lot of help there.
 

Aike

Heisman
Mar 17, 2002
75,452
46,419
90
I'm still mad about the cheat job in the Final Four back in 2001. Don't really care where they were seeded.

Of course it was fun the next year when they went to Lexington and Coach K cried about it.

Then we got cheating again to get past Xavier in 2004.

USA basketball, Lance Thomas jewelry, 2 years of high school in 6 days. Can't imagine why any UK fan would waste bandwidth defending Duke about anything.
 

Xception

Heisman
Apr 17, 2007
26,407
22,344
0
So instead of saying Duke always gets the easiest bracket we need to do a lot of digging and math to conclude they get in the easiest bracket 74.859% of the time?

 

NoDef

All-American
Sep 1, 2001
5,163
7,107
113
The 2015 Duke bracket couldn't have been set up any better. Robert Morris, San Diego St, Utah, Gonzaga, Michigan State and Wisconsin. Duke has historically struggle against athletic teams in March and you couldn't find a bracket that looked more like it came from the 1960s than what they had that year.
 

mrbud

Senior
Jun 12, 2009
1,487
498
0
So just listing makes the argument true?

Was Duke even a #2 seed last year, but still got 2 seed? Losing to south carolina at south carolina....isn't a big factor. They were 11 loss team. They got spanked by us (we played at home, but nonetheless). And lets not act like South Carolina is exactly far away from North Carolina....

Not to mention, they didn't do **** except 2015 and 2010..which alone makes the run great, but they lost to teams they should have won anyways...

and 2015 is just absurd. Beginning and at the end of the year there were 3 major powerhouses. UK, Duke, and Wisconsin. We had the best record, and should not even had to bother with Wisconsin in Final Four. It should have been UK versus Duke/Wisconsin for title.

Bro you cant cherry pick who you are going to play. Bottomline we should not have lost the Wisconsin game, its not puke fault Michigan state won their region , we will never know if we would have beat Duke.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Neue Regel

TrustinCal

Senior
Feb 7, 2014
1,384
918
0
Bull Sheeeit.

The NCAA knows it is a corrupt organization. Having Duke be successful is good for the NCAA because Duke can sell their players as student athletes instead of unpaid professionals which is really what the NCAA is. Duke gets clean cut players that give good interviews and have upperclassman that they pay to stick around and it looks good for the NCAA. Same goes for UNC and some other teams. Crazy some people can't see this.
 

JC CATS

Heisman
Jun 18, 2009
23,517
12,221
0
Op’s next thread NCAA is not corrupt, you are paranoid
North Carolina didn't really cheat? Now I don't know how it is going to be explained that is the interesting part. Somebody needs to explain it because the NCAA didn't.
 

FrankUnderwood

Heisman
May 26, 2017
15,912
27,971
0
Here’s several problems with your thoughts

2017-USCjr was a 7 seed. Has no fans. The NCAA had pulled all events from the state of North Carolina due to a bathroom law. They couldn’t put Duke in North Carolina. It’s truly laughable you think it was some kind of disadvantage.

2014- Wichita St was considered the weakest #1 seed. Louisville wasnt as good as their 13 team. Kentucky had 10 losses. You’re logic is flawed.

2013-State wasn’t a great team. UL was in the elite 8. Once you hit the elite 8, I don’t care who you are, you will play somebody good.

2012- while the UK-Duke Elite 8 matchup would of happened, they would of have to play a bunch of nobodies until UK. Again the NCAA loves that Duke-UK regional final matchup.

Your logic is flawed. You’re also using revisionist history and how things played out. On the day of Selection Sunday, Duke generally has the easiest path of the 1 and 2 seeds in the tournament and this year will be no different. Only really in 10 and 12 did UK get a pretty favorable path in the tourney and people have made arguments about 10 hat show they didn’t. Like I said, it’s not about who you play in the regional final and FF, it’s the 3 games before that. Duke has a lot of help there.


When’s the last time Duke and UK had a regional matchup?
 

UKWildcatT

All-American
Apr 9, 2009
75,546
8,113
0
BTW, i always see this. We weren't clear cut #1 in 2010. We were #2 overall.

Cousin and Wall were dynamic but we weren't very good defensively nor could we space the floor well. Also, our guard defense tend to have all or nothing approach, which created a lot of highlights but also straight line drive to the basket.

Clear cut number one seed, not number one overall
 
A

anon_013cn8yrfncx2

Guest
Having an easy bracket is not just about who the #1 seed is when Duke is not.

All about match ups. Duke this year will be in region with donut teams and likely on same side of bracket with perennial overrated patsy Mich St. Anytime Baylor is in the field you'll find them with Duke. Look for Zags to be nearby as well.

Anybody doubt they'll be with Xavier this year.

Just because Duke doesn't always come thru doesn't mean the committee isn't trying.

Next Saturday nite/Sunday AM let's all come back with who we think the top 5 seeds will be in each region.
 

TortElvisII

Heisman
May 7, 2010
51,700
96,942
66
I checked the records for 2013. There is a lot of misinformation in this thread. Duke was in a bracket with a team name vacated that year.
 

Saguaro Cat

All-American
Apr 27, 2008
16,918
7,625
113
It's mainly based on 2010 and 15. And the fact that Duke ALWAYS seems to get the benefit of the doubt in terms of where they're seeded. Name a year when Duke was seeded lower than people were predicting. It never, ever happens. UK's had it happen 3 times in 6 years.

Duke was a questionable 1 seed in both 10 and 15, and yet both times got put it what was CLEARLY the easiest region both times.

I can't name when Duke was seeded lower than predicted. But I can't find one time they were seeded higher either. Every year that Bracket Matrix has existed, Duke has gotten the seed they deserve. Including 2015 where they are a decided favorite to get the 1 seed they got. That's not favoritism, that's fairness.

And if the argument is 2 out of 8 years they got the easiest 1 of the 4 brackets, your complaint is with math, not the committee.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sgrooms

Titpwhami2014

All-American
Feb 17, 2018
3,466
8,449
0
I'm still mad about the cheat job in the Final Four back in 2001. Don't really care where they were seeded.

Of course it was fun the next year when they went to Lexington and Coach K cried about it.

Then we got cheating again to get past Xavier in 2004.

USA basketball, Lance Thomas jewelry, 2 years of high school in 6 days. Can't imagine why any UK fan would waste bandwidth defending Duke about anything.

Thread over.
 
KSR

Latest

  1. 01 KSR MSU transfer, UK target Jaxon Kohler commits to BYU
  2. 02 KSR Starting the Season in Week Zero is a GENIUS Move for Kentucky Football
  3. 03 KSR Kentucky Football Motivational Messages that Also Apply to Big Blue Nation
  4. 04 KSR Eva Hudson's road back to Kentucky VB isn't gone, but the path is small: 'So much is out of our control.'
  5. 05 KSR Handicapping the entries to the Kentucky 'I Voted' Sticker Contest